We should have all our communications with men, as in the presence of God; and with God, as in the presence of men.

Short as life is, some find it long enough to outlive their characters, their constitutions and their estates.

The consequences of things are not always proportionate to the apparent magnitude of those events that have produced them. Thus the American Revolution, from which little was expected, produced much; but the French Revolution, from which much was expected, produced little.

The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm.

He that studies only men will get the body of knowledge without the soul; and he that studies only books, the soul without the body.

The breast of a good man is a little heaven commencing on earth; where the Deity sits enthroned with unrivaled influence, every subjugated passion, "like the wind and storm, fulfilling his word.

The policy that can strike only while the iron is hot will be overcome by that perseverance, which ... can make that iron hot by striking and he that can only rule the storm must yield to him who can both raise and rule it.